By Orin DavidsonAugust
28th, 2008
Despair has struck the New York Under-19 cricket team just days before
their defense of the United States annual junior championship this
weekend.

Gladstone Dainty

Jeffroy
Morrishaw

Four
players and coach Linden Fraser are out of the squad for reasons as
diverse as the skills needed to deliver a yorker or hit a straight
six.

Fraser, the longstanding
coach was removed by the New York Regional Committee, the area’s
recently formed governing body for the sport, while top players Javein
Thomas, Saud Hussein, captain Andy Harricharran and Jamshed Assam
are also out for reasons ranging from a rule change, poor discipline
and lack of funding.

The coach said
he was taken off the team by the Committee following a meeting on
Tuesday night which determined that he has been suspended by the United
States of America Cricket Association (USACA) president Gladstone
Dainty, pending a meeting of the association.

New York chairman
Jeffroy Morrishaw confirmed that the committee is abiding by the dictates
of Dainty and as such Fraser cannot partake in any activities under
the jurisdiction of the national ruling body.

Queried on the
authenticity of the suspension, in light of it being interpreted as
unconstitutional, Morrishaw said in his opinion the president has
the authority to suspend anyone associated with United States cricket

He said his interpretation
of the constitution suggests that the president has such power, but
which has been disputed by at least two members of the USACA board.
“It is unfortunate that Fraser got caught up in this, but we
have to follow the protocol, if the USACA president hands down a directive
we have to follow it,” Morrishaw added

Dainty had e-mailed the coach informing him of his decision to suspend
him, following the conclusion of the recent national under-15 championship
of which Fraser was involved as national junior selector and coach
of the New York team. However two members of the USACA Board said
they were not party to any such decision, which
Dainty said was for revealing the composition of the national under-15
team before approval. A frivolous charge indeed.

Article VIII 2
of USACA Constitution states that: “The Board, by a two-thirds
(2/3) majority may suspend, or expel a member due to conduct deemed
to be prejudicial, detrimental and / or contrary to the aims and objectives
of the Association. The member shall be provided an opportunity to
present its case to the Board prior to the decision to suspend or
expel.”

As a result of
the New York Committee’s decision, the team which won the 2007
competition with Fraser at the helm, will defend their title without
him and will have to be handled by manager Lester Hooper and an assistant
manager.

The loss of the
four players will also weaken their chances in the competition scheduled
from Friday to Monday. Thomas was removed for indiscipline behavior
following a practice session incident while a belated decision by
USACA to lower the age requirement has sidelined Hussein and Harricharran.

Players must now be 18 years and under to be eligible after they could’ve
been one year older up to two weeks ago..

On the other hand,
Assam has not been able to fund his traveling expenses which all the
New York players are now required to provide because of USACA’s
inability to acquire full sponsorship for the competition.

The New York Committee
also could not raise the money required for airline tickets, meals
and internal transportation.

The four players
have been replaced by Rasheem James, Lookesh Subramani, Abdulla Syed
and Cameron Merja.